Does Washington state need a new slogan?

Thursday, May 1, 2014

A recent news story said Seattle is looking for a new nickname to replace “The Emerald City.” Then today, Tacoma News Tribune writer Peter Callaghan pointed out that Washington doesn’t have an official state slogan anymore. Really? Growing up, I always knew Washington as “The Evergreen State.” When did that change? Regardless, Callaghan suggests some great ideas for a new state slogan. My favorites:

We Don’t Understand Aplets & Cotlets Either

Come See Your Team Beat The Mariners

No Serial Killers … Lately

We Had Four-Dollar Coffee Before Anyone

Our Bertha’s Stuck in the Eartha

To those I add a few city and state suggestions of my own:

Yakima, the Yakima of Washington

Don’t Call Us Blah-vue, We’re More Diverse Than You

Washington, Where Rust Never Sleeps

The Pretty-but-Deadly Volcanoes State

Where Grapes Have Supplanted Apples

Come to Tacoma, We’ve Lost Our Aroma

I’ll probably hear from someone in Tacoma about that, but the City of Destiny took a huge step forward when it reined in its pulp mills and toppled its smelter smokestack in 1993. “The Aroma of Tacoma” was real, but happily, the city now smells fresh as a daisy.